Rules for Rendering the Xomenehture of Zoology Uniform. 365 



at pleasure to any new group whicli may be in want of a name. "We 

 .consider, however, that when a word has once been proposed in a 

 given sense, and has afterward sunk into a synonym, it is far better to 

 lay it aside forever, than to run the risk of making confusion by reis- 

 suing it with a new meaning attached. 



r. Specific names raised into generic— It has sometimes been the 

 practice in subdividing an old genus, to give to the lesser genera so 

 formed the names of their respective typical species. Our rule 13 

 authorizes the forming of a new specific name in such cases, l)ut we 

 further wish to state our objections to the practice altogether, consider- 

 ing, as we do, that the original specific names should, as far as possible, 

 be held sacred, both on the grounds of justice to the authors and of 

 practical convenience to naturalists. We would strongly dissuade from 

 the further- continuance of a practice which is gratuitous in itself, and 

 which involves the necessity of altering long established specific names. 

 We have now pointed out the principal rocks and shoals which lie 

 in the path of the nomenclator, and it will be seen that the naviga- 

 tion through them is by no means easy. The task of constructing 

 a language which shall supply the demands of scientfic accuracy on 

 the one hand, and of literary elegance on the other, is not to be incon- 

 siderately undertaken by unqualified persons. Our nomenclature pre- 

 sents but too many flaws and inelegancies already, and as the stern law 

 of priority forbids their removal, it follows that they must remain as 

 monuments of the bad taste or bad scholarship of their authors to the 

 latest ages in which zoology shall be studied. 



Families to end in idee and Subfamilies in mice.— The practice sug- 

 gested in the following proposition has been adopted by many recent 

 authors, and its simplicity and convenience is so great that we strongly 



recommend its universal use. 



f § 5. It is recommended that theasserablages of genera, termed /ami- 



lies, should be uniformly named, by adding the termination idee to the 

 name of the earliest known, or most typically characterized genus in 

 them; and that their subdivisions, termed subfamilies, should be simi- 

 larly constructed, with the termination mce. These words are formed 

 by changing the last syllable of the genitive case into idee or ince, as 

 strix, Str'gis, Strigidce, Buceros, Bucerotis, Bucerotidie, not Strixidce, 



Bucridce. 



Specific names to be written xvith a small initial— A convenient memo- 

 ria technica may be eflected by adopting our next proposition. It has 

 been usual, when the titles of species are derived from proper names, 

 to write them with a capital letter, and, hence, when the specific name 

 is used alone, it is liable to be occasionally mistaken for the title of a 



